One or more embodiments pertain to the art of powder bed fusion process, in particular to a technique for determining the uniformity of powder layer distribution across a build plate during a powder bed fusion process.
Powder bed fusion processes are used in various technologies including additive manufacturing technologies such as 3D printing, rapid prototyping, direct digital manufacturing, layered manufacturing and additive fabrication. Some additive manufacturing techniques use a laser as the power source to melt or sinter the material in forming a final product during the process. This technology can fuse or bind small particles including plastics, metals, ceramics, and glass powders into a desired structure where the laser selectively fuses each of the powder layers according to a computer-aided design file and repeats the process until the final product is completely formed. The quality of the powders and the integrity of the binding of each layer can affect the characteristics of the final product.